Republicans Feud Over Tea-Party Candidates

This photo taken Nov. 7, 2013 shows Idaho Republican House candidate Bryan Smith, middle, shaking hands with Laurinda Nussbaum, cq, at a town hall meeting with local residence during a campaign stop for the House seat in Idaho.

AP

The continuing battle between the establishment and antiestablishment forces within the Grand Old Party is getting bitter.

Scott Reed, a chief political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, quips that the antiestablishment Club for Growth has morphed into the “Club for Dopes.” Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller charges that the head of a Washington-based pro-incumbent political group, the Main Street Republican Partnership, “may have eaten a lot paint chips as a kid.”

Maybe that is what happens in any family feud. But it is the first time in recent years that the Republican intraparty battles have turned publicly personal.

“The Club for Growth began as a pro-growth, economic conservative advocacy group that has morphed into a destructive, self -appointed ‘club for dopes’ who have lost their philosophical moorings,” Mr. Reed said.

In Idaho, the Chamber has launched a rare negative television advertisement against the tea-party challenger, which criticizes candidate Bryan Smith for being a trial lawyer. The ad upset Mr. Smith’s supporters, who think that negative ads sponsored by outside groups in Republican primaries are over the line.

“I think Steve LaTourette may have eaten a lot of paint chips as a kid,” Mr. Keller told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

In response, a spokesman for Mr. LaTourette called the attack a “pretty bold statement for a guy named after a purple dinosaur,” referring to Mr. Keller’s first name, according to the paper.

As for the Chamber, Mr. Keller tells the Journal: “The difference between the Club for Growth PAC and the Chamber of Commerce is this: the Chamber supports liberal Democrats, and supported the Obama stimulus and the Wall Street Bailout. The Club for Growth PAC opposes liberals in both parties.”

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